"What happens in Vegas"... Will likely end up on this site. Sorry, Las Vegas Chamber.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

10 of '10: Wild About Harry

Come on, you really thought we couldn't mention him (again) in our Top 10 countdown? This was the race that consumed so much of our attention. This is the contest the entire country was obsessing over. And of course, this was the election that the Beltway pundits thought they already knew the results of many months in advance... Only to emerge shellshocked by the actual final results.

[T]hat's what I've been finding on the ground here in Southern Nevada. Sure, teabaggers pop up here and there occasionally with their protests of everything "government" (except when they want it, go figure). But with the exception of all those thousands of people who drove in or bussed in from out of state for that "Showdown in Searchlight", I still haven't seen any massive "grassroots" outpouring of "tea party" support.

Instead, what I see and hear is concern about when more Nevadans will get back to work, concern about access to good education, concern about the family member(s) dangerously close to foreclosure... Basically, what I'm hearing from real Nevadans is real concern about how to get our state back on track. [...]

[W]ithout a doubt, most of the people I've spoken with here agree that our only chance of moving forward is with Harry Reid as our Senate Majority Leader. And I know I'm not alone. That's what the Beltway pundits are missing. This isn't a game to us. We're dealing with our very lives here, and we can't afford the insane and dangerous extremism of Sharron Angle.

I want to be able to finish school at UNLV and get a good job. My unemployed friends depended on unemployment insurance, and need good jobs soon. My friend who came close to foreclosure needed someone to help him negotiate with the bank to keep his home. My parents depend on Social Security to survive. And guesswho's been helping us?

Again, this isn't a game to us. And I think this is what's closing "the enthusiasm gap". And at the end of the day, I think a whole lot of folks will be surprised by the final election results.

But right now, we don't have "perfection" on the ballot. (And frankly, I wonder if "perfection" can win in a volatile climate like this.)

We have Harry Reid. And he's not just our best choice... He's really our only choice to get this state and this country back on track.

He may not be the most glamorous politician around...

But he's done plenty to help Nevada in our time of need.

We can't afford to lose the Majority Leader. We can't afford to lose someone who's listening to us. We can't afford to lose the kind of expertise that Reid has on all things Nevada.

We need Harry Reid... It's really as simple as that.

This has been quite the brutal election, but thanks to Reid's brilliant campaign, Nevada emerged much more intact than most of the rest of the country. And Nevada will still have the most powerful advocate in Washington that we've ever seen.